Thursday, 25 November 2010

My flat is overflowing with pretty floral teacups and cake plates, kitsch Babycham glasses and curios like a giant blue ceramic bunny rabbit. Were it not for my boyfriend's calming influence - or perhaps his threat to take a sledgehammer to it all - it would become difficult to tell my home from that of a slightly crazy old woman. So it's very bad that I've discovered The OK Corral. It's a British website that's full of retro and antique house goodies and, like the fantastic H is for Home or the newly discovered Anglo and Dutch (thanks Siany!), they have a great eye for picking out the good vintage stuff for you when you don't have the time to traipse around another car boot sale.

While some vintage stores focus on a specific era, The OK Corral is definitely all about the pretty. Take for example this darling yellow coffee set. Perfect for accompanying a slice of lemon cake and it's only £7.

I actually can't believe I haven't paid the necessary £12 to buy this flower bud trio yet. Yellow and pink flowers complemented by the black dots around edge, it's possibly the perfect tea time combination.

Not all the stuff on the site is particularly old but I like the way their photography suggests how otherwise neglected pieces can look good. I might have left these 80s-style pink glass bowls languishing on a charity shop shelf. Now having spotted them on the site, for £8 I want to buy them and fill them full of raspberry sorbet.

There's some good potential gifts on offer too, such as these 50s cook books which cost £6 and are just a couple of the books available. They're also selling an enticingly titled book called The Handyman's 1000 Practical Receipts which apparently contains tips on how to make things look good. My own practical suggestion is that the Handyman can probably start by taking a few tips from The OK Corral.